


Stranger Psychology

by Dewstorm



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Explicit Language, First Meetings, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-01
Updated: 2017-04-01
Packaged: 2018-10-13 11:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10512957
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dewstorm/pseuds/Dewstorm
Summary: Nico tries to use psychology to figure out why he is slowly falling in love with the blonde nurse who always sits across from him on the bus ride to work.





	

There’s this thing Nico learned in his psychology class about attraction towards other people. It comes from proximity, physical attractiveness, similarity, and reciprocity. And oh boy, has Nico been dealing with these four stupid criteria for the past four months.

He’ll start with proximity.

As stated previously, Nico’s been having this problem for around four months when he got this job downtown. As we all know, downtown sucks some serious ass when it comes to parking, so Nico was forced to use the fantastic United States’ transportation system. He hops on a bus at 7 am every morning and sits there with the company of strangers for about 45 minutes. It’s hell on Earth. 

The proximity, though. Apparently, research shows that the more you see someone, the more attractive they become. So, just as Nico always thought, there isn’t love at first sight. Maybe ‘I wanna bang the absolute fuck out of you’ at first sight, but not love. No, love has to be built up over time. Horrible, exhausting, frustrating time. Also known as the ‘mere exposure effect.’

The first time Nico got on that bus, there was this other guy about his age already on it. Haha, and guess what? That kid has been on the every day since then for four fucking months. Nico guesses he never gets sick or something. 

To build on this so-called proximity factor, Nico has also sat across from him every single day. The bus seats were designed like a subway car, with the backs on the chair against the wall and under the window, meaning Nico was ‘forced’ to have to look at the stanger's face for 45 minutes a day. So much for ‘mere exposure.’ More like ‘extreme, please-be-careful-not-to-overdose’ exposure. So yeah, proximity can be checked off the list that’s making Nico’s life kind of terrible. 

If you’re forced to look at a stranger’s face for so long, you’d probably find comfort and familiarity in it also. 

Especially if the face was the most goddamn amazing face you have ever seen in your absolutely pathetic life. 

Which brings Nico to the physical attractiveness factor. 

Haha. 

Boy, you have no idea. 

Tall. Tan. Blonde. Blue eyes. Lean. Dresses in mint green scrubs. Has a smile so bright you’d think he’d be the child of a sun god. Basic white boy, if Nico was being honest. But, gods was he beautiful.

So, yeah. The guy was ‘physically attractive’ by anyone’s standards. He looks like that guy you see at the bar, call dibs on, fuck his brains out, and don’t even regret it (that much) in the morning because he was that ‘physically attractive.’

He would read stuff on his phone often. Nico would shamelessly stare at the other man as he would lean back in his bus seat, watching as the blonde would occasionally wet his full lips with his tongue or gently bite them. Haha, maybe he was reading homoerotic fanfiction on his phone. Wouldn’t that be funny? Sometimes Nico invented some homoerotic fanfiction in his head when staring at this guy.

But seriously, this guy oozed ‘physical attractiveness.’ 

Nico’s has heard him speak a couple of times to other people on the bus, and Jesus Christ was his voice organismic. 

Ew. 

Anyways. Besides the point. 

Physical attractiveness was a giant check.

Now the next point is more complicated and a little tiny bit soul-crushingly different. 

The similarity factor. 

Nico has brown hair. The guy is blonde. 

Nico is an emo punk. This guy is happy and calm.

Nico is the size of a large smurf (he’s still growing so fuck off), and the blonde probably gets ‘how’s the weather up there’ comments.

Nico is pretty sure that this blonde beautiful jerk is a nurse. He thinks this because the guy wears scrubs with white shoes and Nico has the elementary ability to put two and two together. 

Want to know where Nico works? :) 

Nico works for his dad. 

His dad is the owner of hundreds morgues across the United States. 

So this guy is trying to keep people alive and healthy, while Nico makes plans on how to prepare dead bodies for burial. 

Despite similarity being completely out of the question for Nico’s extreme attraction to this guy he’s never talked to, he can’t help but think it still plays a very important part. 

Maybe is not the fact that they are similar because trust him, Nico can tell they are as different as night and day, but the fact that they are so unlike. 

It's something new. Very new. Before riding the bus, Nico never thought he’d even ever want to be with someone like this guy. But there is some sort of rush in the unpredictability in the thought of dating your opposite. 

People also say opposites attract, so why not.

Also, Nico has never talked to this guy, want if they are super-duper similar? Maybe not in appearance, but in feelings? Humor? Intelligence?

So, as of right now, Nico is ignoring the factor of similarity. Screw psychology. 

And today he put his big boy pants on. Because today is a very important day. 

Today Nico will explore the last factor in attraction. 

Reciprocity. 

He’s been talking this over with his friends for about a month now. Telling them all about his curly blonde stranger who wears mint green scrubs and reads possibly homoerotic smut (or maybe just CNN) on his phone every day. They’ve been encouraging, of course, and telling Nico to go for it. 

But then the insecurities come. 

What if this guy already has a boyfriend (or girlfriend, YIKES), he’s certainly physically attractive enough. What if his number one priority is the similarity and is disgusted by Nico? What if tries to talk to him then accidentally sneezes in his face (it’s happened) and then is forced to sit next to him in embarrassment for the rest of his life on the stupid bus.

So much can go wrong.

But then again, so much can go right. 

Now, you might be wondering how emo little Nico found the courage to even think about talking to this bus stranger. Well, Nico has hit a new rough patch in his rough patch of life, and has kind of got to the ‘fuck it’ point. Caution to the wind. Things can’t get much worse. 

He remembers doing the four points of attraction with Percy Jackson. It went pretty parallel with the bus stranger beside the bus, only to be ruined at the reciprocity level. 

But Piper told him second time's the charm! 

Haha. 

Nico sat at the bus stop, fiddling with a long piece of grass he had plucked from the ground. He went to the flower store earlier that day and bought daffodils. Annabeth had warned him that a single daffodil is a symbol of misfortune, so Nico was sure as hell to buy a buttlode. It was probably overkill and he was going to creep the fuck out of this guy. 

Nico was just happy they didn’t die when he touched them. 

He saw the big blue, rusty bus approaching, no doubt carrying the blonde nurse straight towards Nico. No backing out… or maybe Nico could just skip work today, give the flowers to Hazel, and watch some Netflix. He still hasn't finished Bob’s Burgers. 

No… time for Nico to stop being a pussy. 

The bus was right in front of him. 

Bob’s Burgers did seem nice right about now. 

Nico prison-marched up the small stairs and paid the bus for entry, then turned towards to aisle to find his seat. He was partly hoping that the nurse wouldn’t be here today so Nico would never have to find out if reciprocity was a true factor. Alas! The nurse is in his seat, looking down at his phone with his mint green scrubs and white shoes. 

Nico sat in his normal seat across from him. 

Fun fact! Nico doesn’t always stare at the blonde. He also looks at his own phone, watches other people, or stares out the window. He’ll eventually turn back to the nurse just to occasionally find the blonde looking at HIM. Shocking. Maybe it's because Nico is high-key creepy, but usually, as Nico sits down in his seat, the blonde looks up at him and gives a little smile as a greeting. 

Today was no different. He looked up a little more happy than usual, but the blonde did look shook at the flowers in Nico’s hand. Then something unusual happened. The nurse’s face turned red at the sight of the daffodils before he turned away looking… pissed off?

What? 

Now Nico was shook.

Did he hate daffodils? Was he allergic? Did daffodils kill his parents? It was just Nico’s luck he’d pick the one flower that the love of his life hated. 

Well, flip-fuckity-great! Nico is not going to give him flowers that the blonde looks like he is going to punch. Consider mission failed.

Nico flopped down in his seat in defeat. Perhaps another day, with some other flowers.

Nico took his own phone out of his pocket to text Piper about his miserable life as a dumbass. He also mentally decided to not look at the nurse for the rest of the ride to not be reminded that he fucked up. 

He sent a text that said something like ‘i will die alone because of the daffodils’ when a voice startled him. 

Not just any voice. A very physically attractive voice. 

“So, who are the flowers for?” Nico was so shocked by the interaction. They had never actually spoken to each other, only had a couple of friendly nods and smiles. 

“Um,” Nico said intelligently. 

The blonde, still looking a little upset, continued “are they for a special someone?” 

He kind of sounded like he was trying to be casual if that makes any sense. Almost like he wanted to say those words with a very different tone of voice. He was now glaring at the yellow flowers still in Nico’s hand. 

“Um,” Nico stated. How the hell was he supposed to answer that question? He was still shell-shocked at being directly addressed by this guy and now he has to respond to his impossible question.

Just tell him how you feel, Nico. This is your moment. 

“They’re for a funeral,” Nico responded.

Okay, what the fuck. 

The nurse looked guilty and… relieved?

“Oh,” He said apologetically. “I’m so sorry.” 

Nico mentally slapped himself in the face and launched his body over a bridge into shark-infested waters. 

“No, no,” Nico sighed. “The flowers are aren’t for a funeral, I was just... kidding? They are for someone, you were right.” 

Funny, the blonde went back to glaring at the flowers almost immediately. Not seeming to mind that Nico just randomly lied about going to a funeral. 

Nico breathed in deeply, “would you like to hear about them?” 

The nurse looked sad and conflicted, which confused Nico. He probably just didn't want to listen to a creepy bus stranger talk about their stalker love, but also didn’t want to be rude. 

But instead of telling him to fuck off, the blonde said quietly, “yes, of course.” 

“Well,” Nico started with the utmost bravery. “It’s this guy that I see every day. Honestly, at first, I didn’t think much of him. He was just some guy, you know? But after months of being around him, I have come to realize how interesting he is and I have learned his tiny mannorisms. His face is beautiful and handsome and stuff, but that’s not it. No…

It’s not about proximity or physical attractiveness or similarity, it's about wanting to get to know someone. Wanting to get to know him. I see this person and I have this impossible feeling that I just have to know his whole life story. I want to be his friend. I want to be with him. Maybe it is psychology, maybe it’s not, who cares. I just know that I somehow, someway have feelings for a complete stranger, and I don’t even know his goddamn name. But I’d like to.” 

Embarrassed at the random and rare outburst of feelings, Nico cut himself off from speaking. He had been staring at the flowers the entire time. 

Neither of them spoke.

“Well, I hope you learn his name.” Nico heard the blonde say in a shaky voice. 

Nico finally looked up at him. The blonde had tears in his eyes that hadn’t fallen yet as he gazed softly at Nico. 

Now, Nico isn’t stupid. He’s oblivious, sure. But not to this extent. The nurse glared at the flowers when he got on the bus, almost seemed happy when Nico said they were for a funeral and not for another person, seemed reluctant to hear Nico talk about the person he had feelings for, and was now almost crying because he did.

Could this be… reciprocity? 

Nico extended the hand holding the flowers towards the blonde, smiling. It wasn’t even his creepy smile. A happy, genuine smile.

“Yeah, I hope I learn it too,” Nico said softly. “Would you mind telling me? I'm dying from curiosity over here.”

The look on the blonde’s face can’t really be described. His mouth dropped open and he stared into Nico’s eyes as if waiting for him to say this is all a joke and laugh.

Then, another surprise. 

The blonde regained his composure, but instead of taking the flowers from Nico’s hand or saying his goddamn name, he held up a finger as if telling Nico to wait a second. 

He picked up his black backpack he always brought with him and unzipped it. From inside, the nurse slowly and carefully pulled out a bouquet of yellow daffodils before handing them out to Nico. 

“Only if you tell me yours.” 

The names ‘Nico’ and ‘Will’ were hastily said before the two jumped at each other for a (pretty painful) first kiss. 

The rest of the bus riders actually clapped and cheered, as if waiting for this moment to happen. 

And Will is a pretty nice name. 

Nico checked off the reciprocity factor.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
